Strays - Telling a dark tale

Independent filmmaker, Aaron Dunleavy, has used the backdrop of his hometown, Blackburn, to create a new short film as part of Channel 4 and Arts Council Englands Random Acts programme. The initiative - delivered by Tyneside Cinema (Newcastle), HOME (Manchester), and True North Productions (Leeds) - commissions bold, innovative expressions of creativity from young creative talent, and was a new and welcome challenge for Dunleavys third short film.

With such a task at hand, Aaron decided to draw inspiration from the Northern, industrial landscape found to create Strays - a short that presents a dark and unsettling world in which children have taken over a forgotten street, devoid of adults with no rules or boundaries.

The streets background contributed to the integrity of the story and overall feel of the film. The area was once home to a large, close knit community, but around a decade ago the council began demolition work to make way for a new regeneration scheme, explains Aaron. Halfway through the demolition, the work came to a standstill due to lack of funds, and the half-demolished houses were abandoned. Several years on, the houses remain; crumbling and forgotten.

Getting his hands on a camera from a young age initiated his interest in filmmaking. But directing was not Dunleavys first stop in his journey - it was VFX that caught his eye and he started to teach himself the basics while still at school. This is what pushed him into pursuing a film course where he not only found the skills he needed to transition from visual effects in to directing, but decided that if he were to produce his own material, he would need to write it as well.

Armed with this experience, Dunleavy has been able to approach story telling in a unique and unconventional way. I do feel that my background allows me to shoot in a different way to many other filmmakers; I already know what is possible in post, so it gives me the ability to visualise the end product during the production, explains Aaron.

The budget didnt allow Dunleavy to bring in a post house and with time as an issue, he decided to complete post himself, relying on a MacBook Pro (Mid 2012) with 4GB of RAM. His beginnings in post production were a massive help when it came to the edit, cutting the offline in Adobe Premiere, and then a smooth roundtrip into DaVinci Resolve to complete the online edit and final grade.

In the grade, Dunleavy focused on crafting a strong, dark setting and believable characters. When filming outdoors, we were able to capture much of the final look in camera and only required finessing in the grade, however, the interiors were more tricky," says Aaron. "During the grade, a lot of work went into accentuating the dark and dreary feel that we'd tried to capture during filming, which took place in my grandma's old house. The end product looked exactly how I'd initially visualised in my head!

The colour grading process was also very important for building on the different character traits within the film. I wanted to ensure the characters could portray the dark themes to provide sincerity to the storyline, according to Aaron. Using Resolves tracking capabilities, he tracked the eyeballs of the actors as a way to bring the corrupt world to life: I emphasised the eyes to make them super realistic and intense, as well as adding textures to other small features such as hands to make them seem more worn.

An important factor Dunleavy had to bear in mind during the grade, was the fact that he was keen to keep all of the scenes as consistent as possible. I wanted it to seem like all the different scenes were happening simultaneously, reflects Aaron, so it was important to ensure the grade was as seamless as possible. Ensuring fluidity between each scene was crucial.

Keen to create a timeless feel to Strays, a lot of time and effort was spent ensuring the short had a film like quality. This is my preferred look for my films; for this particular short, I wanted to create a world that didnt necessarily have relevance to whats happening now, in the present day, which I find the film look can achieve.

Using Blackmagics URSA Mini 4.6K enabled Aaron to achieve this look. The 15 stops of dynamic range afforded by the 4.6K sensor allowed for a beautifully filmic image which was then heightened during the grade by applying a film grain.

Subtle changes such as adjusting highlights in the sky contributed massively to creating the desired film aesthetic, and improve how the story was perceived. And that is why there was a lot of time and attention paid to to these small accents, says Aaron.

Digital Vision on BroadcastShow LIVE at IBC 2013

Cintel at IBC2011

Image Systems at IBC2011

Bubble and Squeak: Live and Loud from Monday at IBC 2013

From the Ospreys Rugby Union team, to the Football Association of Wales, as well as national cycling, swimming and boxing coverage, Port Talbot based Buffoon Film and Media has been heavily involved in putting Welsh sports on the world stage.

University study and mental health has been in the media quite a bit over the last year, and I’m sure there are many people wondering what is going on? The issues are complex, and I suppose the focus of employability off the back of a degree course has raised the stress stakes for a lot of young people. I’m only qualified to talk about this from my perspective, and my story began when I joined a course not knowing I had a mental health condition.

“What is it about light that has us craving it?” Is the question asked in the opening seconds of Garth de Bruno Austin’s latest short, The Colour of Light.
Exploring this natural, human need as well as our innate desire to control it, Garth’s film showcases everyday people going about their lives in differing degrees of luminance, whether that be an artificial streetlight or a natural morning sunrise.

Wireless acquisition is a staple of live sports, entertainment and reality shows where cable free capture permits shots not previously possible, for health and safety reasons, and gives the camera-operator greater artistic licence to roam. The same is increasingly true of narrative drama where cinematographers are keen to work handheld or Steadicam where that helps tell the story. Any equipment which frees their movement and time by being lighter, easier to use and reliable in performance is going to tick a lot of boxes.

There is an interesting seminar called Size Matters at the KitPlus Show – organised by the publishers of this fine magazine – at MediaCityUK in Salford on 6 November. It’s a talk by cinematographer Alistair Chapman on the way that camera technology is changing, and in particular the size of the electronic device which creates the image is growing.

Subscribe to our industry email service

Email Address

Subscribing to this service will add your email address to our main database and you will then receive marketing information from KitPlus and our partners. We will not share or sell your information and you can unsubscribe at any time.

kitplus.com is the new name for tv-bay and home of new and used broadcast equipment sales and hire, new and used film equipment sales and hire, used video equipment and professional video and tv product sales and hire. For sale, wanted or for hire KitPlus / tv-bay has all the broadcast sales information and contacts that you will ever need along with industry jobs should you be looking for a change of direction or have a vacancy to fill. From Sony Broadcast products to used disc drives the site has it all. Simply subscribe to recieve the daily email containing updates and additions to broadcast equipment on the site. If you are looking for broadcast news or news about new pro video or broadcast gear then KitPlus is the right place for you.

To buy and sell or hire your new / used video equipment on KitPlus is easy, fast, and very successful. The used broadcast video equipment market needs a central location to advertise all the video equipment for sale. If you want to buy or hire broadcast ENG equipment from suppliers such as Sony Broadcast, Vinten, PAG, JVC, Panasonic, even Rycote or any other broadcast equipment manufacturer KitPlus is the place to start. Sony broadcast provides probably the widest range of cameras or camcorders, and video equipment to the broadcast industry and for this reason there is always a good supply of sony broadcast used video equipment available around the world. KitPlus has provided the most comprehensive portal to all of the equipment from all of the dealers around the globe. Help and advice is on hand to choose the right VTR, camera, tripod. Although used broadcast video equipment can reduce your investment broadcast equipment is never cheap, with the massive choice of video equipment available on tv-bay you are sure to pay less. The next time you are purchasing or hiring used video equipment start your search at kitplus.com. If you are looking for a Sony broadcast monitor there are over 300 units available. If you are looking for a tripod to support your broadcast camcorder there are over 250 items online. Serial converters, HDV camcorders, DVCAM camcorders, Digi Beta camera’s & VTR’s, DVC Pro equipment, used routers and switchers, waveform monitors and vectorscopes, even complete shooting kit including Sony DSR-PD170P, Vinten Pro 5, sennheiser K6/ME66, boom pole, rycote softie, case, and more....
Used video equipment whether it be broadcast & professional or consumer has never been so easy to find and if you require help then contact tv-bay - your internet broadcast dealer. We have hundreds of reseller, dealer and hire company users with the biggest range of new and refurbished broadcast, film and video equipment from either dealer, reseller or private selle r. You will also find broadcast and media finance specialists such as Adamtean, Medialease, Fineline and Azule Finance.

You can also find your new & used High Definition (HD) converters. Up & Down Conversion, HD-SDI to SD-SDI. Hi Def Cameras and Hi Def VTR’s from Sony Broadcast, JVC Professional, Panasonic Broadcast and Effect Technology to name but a few. If you are in the UK you can find Sony Broadcast equipment that has the Silver Support package included supplied by reputable broadcast dealers and broadcast resellers.